The first and only regatta of the America's Cup World Series for 2013 has taken place. In front of an impressive backdrop in Naples - it was estimated that the final races on Sunday were watched by around 100,000 spectators on the shore - there was a home win for Luna Rossa Swordfish with skipper Francesco Bruni, who won the fleet race final. They were followed in second place by Oracle Racing Team USA, this time with Australian Laser sailor Tom Slingsby at the helm. Slingsby represented his compatriot Jimmy Spithill in a worthy manner and with this result secured overall victory in the 2012/2013 annual classification. Oracle thus also defended the previous year's title. "Jimmy demanded everything from us," said Slingsby afterwards. "All we really had to do was come here and give it our best shot. Fortunately, the lead Jimmy had given us was big enough for us to take the trophy home." In the match race final, Slingsby turned the tables and overtook Bruni's team, who had won the start, in shifty and uneven winds.
Second place in the annual standings went to Luna Rossa Piranha with Chris Draper, who will also drive Prada's AC72. Behind them was Ben Ainslie's JP Morgan BAR, ahead of the highly rated Team New Zealand, which also disappointed in Naples. Three early starts in the fleet races cost valuable points. However, they were also set back on the second day by a controversial collision in the match race against Luna Rossa Swordfish. Only TV studies showed that Dean Barker and colleagues with port sheets arrived a fraction of a second late in the three-length circle of the windward mark and were therefore to blame for the incident in which both boats were damaged. Barker was nevertheless angry with the Italians, who had been his training partners in New Zealand. "Even if you have the right of way, you normally avoid a collision that could cause major damage. It didn't look like they were going to do that."
Such skirmishes are a waste of time, however, as the focus is now on the America's Cup, which will be sailed on the AC72 cats. The cards will be reshuffled, starting at the beginning of July with the Louis Vuitton Cup between the three challengers. It is to be expected that Barker and the Kiwis will cut a much better figure there than they did at the ACWS.
2012-2013 America's Cup World Series Season Championship
1st Oracle Team USA Spithill/Slingsby - 245 points
2nd Luna Rossa Piranha - 191
3. J.P. Morgan BAR - 181
4th Emirates Team New Zealand - 171
5th Energy Team - 160
6th Artemis Racing White - 160
7th Luna Rossa Swordfish - 151
8th Team Korea - 105
9th Oracle Team USA Coutts - 98
10th Artemis Racing Red - 90
11th China Team - 73
12th HS Racing - 36
America's Cup World Series Naples Championship Standings
1st Luna Rossa Swordfish (Francesco Bruni) - 80 points
2nd Oracle Team USA (Tom Slingsby) - 80
3. Emirates Team New Zealand (Dean Barker) - 71
4th Luna Rossa Piranha (Chris Draper) - 70
5. J.P. Morgan BAR (Ben Ainslie) - 65
6th Energy Team (Yann Guichard) - 58
7th Artemis Racing White (Charlie Ekberg) - 40
8th HS Racing (R. Hagara/H.S. Steinacher) - 36
9th China Team (Mitch Booth) - 30
America's Cup World Series Naples Match Racing Championship
1st Oracle Team USA Spithill-Slingsby
2nd Luna Rossa Swordfish
3. J.P. Morgan BAR
4th Luna Rossa Piranha
5. Emirates Team New Zealand
6th Artemis Racing White
7th Energy Team
8th HS Racing
9th China Team
Summary Saturday
